"I already have
a wife who is too much for me; she is my art, and my works are my
children."

[BGM 'Oh Yeah!']

This is a quote by
the Italian Renaissance artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti-san.

This was sent in by
listener Marippe-san. The message reads:

"Good morning.
Congrats on your first solo exhibition in 7 years. I definitely want to go
and see it. Ohno-kun, what is art to you?"

It says here, 'what
is it to you'

(laughs) It's just
begun, hasn't it? It's in the Omotesando Hills space. 24th (July) was the
first day. They did the pre-opening the day before. Well, yeah, the members
also came for that.

Yeah. It was a
Johnny's Agency group. (laughs) Well, all of the members came, then Okadacchi
from V6 also came, and then Shige from NEWS came as well. And then there were
the higher up bosses from the agency as well.

And then I was
explaining about my drawings and sculptures and that took over an hour. I
think it was the first time I did that? I didn't do it the last time. Doing a
lecture like that.

Well, and then we
all went for a meal. That's the way things went.

Before that, Fujiko
Fujio A-sensei was like, since there was that drawing I did of Kaibutsu-kun -
since I'd drawn that, he said that he definitely wanted to see it. So man,
like, it had been like 3-4 years since we last met, I think?

So we met, and he
was really in good form. And then that Kaibutsu-kun picture? There was a
little space there, at the bottom right corner, actually. So there, I was
like, "Sensei, please draw something there," though the picture was
already framed. "Sensei, please draw something."

"No, if I draw
something, that'd spoil it!"

"No, but I'd
really like you to draw something! I really would! Or just your signature!
Anything'll do."

"Ah, no,
no..." Sensei kept refusing. (laughs)

"Fine, then
I'll write something on the glass (framing the picture)."

"No, sensei!
There's no point writing on the glass!" (laughs)

So I figured maybe
if I un-framed the picture, he might draw something. So with the help of the
staff, we took it out of the frame.

"Sensei, if you
please!"

Um, he seemed very
apologetic about it but then, he drew something. Not only that, he did an
imitation of my Kaibutsu-kun and drew an original version of Kaibutsu-kun in
about 10 minuts. Man, that was really... I was so happy. I just displayed it
as it was. If you look closely, you'll understand.

Like for some
reason, he didn't do it in a black pen, but he drew it with a white pen. The
canvas is kinda cream-coloured, so the fact that he drew with a white pen was
kinda cute.

Yeah. So if you
happen to come and see it, by all means, please look out for this point. It's
a collaborative work, this Kaibutsu-kun. Yeah. Well, really, if the chance
arises again, I'd like to go have a drink with Sensei. It was a really great
experience.